Safe and Sound
by Tashash
Summary: The weapon to destroy the Leviathans can be foud in Purgatory. Dean, Sam and Castiel travel there in search of it. Rated for Language.


**A/N: **Since giving in and checking out the spoilers for Season 7 this little plot bunny had been clawing at the inside of my skull. A few minor spoilers, but nothing concrete. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, just borrowing.

Considering the effort it had taken to get into Purgatory the first time the actual _getting_ there was rather anti-climatic; a bright flash that eventually overpowered the senses into a white out and they were there.

Dean and Sam had been expecting...Anything really. Racks of damned souls being tortured, like Hell? Streets filled with monsters attacking each other? An empty ruin?

Castiel had expected Purgatory to looks the same...except possibly emptier than it was during his last visit.

No one had been expecting this.

Snow dusted along grey-stoned pathways, lined with slender trees that, despite the chill in the air and the snow, bore masses of little pale flowers.

The trees were most definitely _not_ normal, even barring the fact that they were blooming in the cold. The bark was silver and each branch held flowers of a different colour, all pale, pastel shades – peach, petal pink, barely yellow, baby blue and lilac.

"Uh, are we sure this is purgatory?" Dean coughed, looking around.

"Seems a little _nice_ for a dimension of monsters, doesn't it?" Sam remarked.

"This...This _is_ Purgatory." Castiel said. "But this is not the same as it was when I..." The Angel trailed off.

They still didn't speak, couldn't speak, of what had happened; Castiel guilty, Dean angry and Sam not sure how he should feel.

"Well, this is kinda what you'd call the 'High Rent' district of Purgatory."

The Winchester's went for their guns (mercifully present in the current dimension) and Castiel's Angel Blade slipped from his sleeve.

"Calm down." The speaker sighed. "There's no one here, well, except for me."

The voice came from a woman who couldn't have been much more than five feet and change, and not much change at that. She wore a long, plain, white dress that almost let her fade into the background; her hair was short and a red unnervingly like the colour of fresh blood, her skin was pale, anyone might think her harmless.

Anyone but them. They still didn't lower their weapons. The woman held up her hands.

"Easy now boys. I'm not here to fight; fact is that you're looking for something, yes? Something to take care of something that used to call this home?" She asked rhetorically, waving a hand at their surrounds.

"And I'm only too happy for you to have it, but..." She stopped, looking expectantly at them.

Sam sighed "There's always a 'but'."

"So what is it, huh? A soul deal, cause your shit outta luck there sweetheart; we don't do that crap anymore." The older Winchester growled.

"Actually, no I _don't_ want a soul. You think they'd leave a kleptomaniac in a jewellery store?" She huffed and combed an impatient hand through her hair before continuing.

"No, we just need to have a chat. No deals – I just need to..._appraise_ you of the situation and I'm sure there's some things that I don't know that you do. I don't get a lot of letters down here, and forget e-mail because the internet connection is absolute _shit_."

She turned to walk away, leaving the three stunned men in her wake. Sam recovered first.

"Hey, wait!" Sam called after her. She stopped and looked back at them in confusion.

"Look, I'm sure this is all very sudden and confusing but we don't have _time_ for this, we need the weapon to defeat the Leviathans _now_." Sam explained, with his patented 'earnest' face on.

All he received was incredulous stare; the woman closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as if staving off a headache.

"OK, I understand you feel the need to be in a bit of a hurry, what with Dick, and I have to mention how much I _love_ the irony there, gearing up to tear your world to shreds, but us stopping to compare facts isn't going to have that much of an impact, especially since time moves differently here, so come on!" And she stalked off, apparently sure that they would follow.

The three looked at each other, Dean mouthing '_what the?_' Sam shrugged and they followed her.

Dean grumbled as he pulled his leather jacket closed "Just our luck that it's freakin' freezing here. Why the hell didn't you mention all the snow and shit Castiel?"

The Angel winced at the use of his full name. Dean still wouldn't call him 'Cas'. He had never thought he would miss the nickname so much.

"It was not cold...before, Dean. It wasn't _anything_. Just grey mist and shadows." He explained.

"Like I said – High Rent district" Their guide called back "That was the actual 'Purgatory' bit, where the nasties go. This is Sanctuary."

She led them to a grey-stoned pavilion and brushed aside the filmy grey curtains, waving the men through.

Sam stopped short when he stepped into the structure. "Woah."

They were still inside the pavilion, but through the curtains the landscape had changed – now it was a lush, green space dominated by a huge, ornate brass fountain.

Dean glared at his brother.

"Yeah, real intelligent Sam." He groused. The younger Winchester shrugged and let it go. Dean had been pissy ever since Castiel had come back, and, granted he did have a reason to be upset, but so did Sam – Castiel had knocked down his wall, after all, and _he_ wasn't bitching about it.

And Castiel just kept staring at Dean like a kicked puppy that knew why it was in trouble but was hoping against hope to be forgiven. And then Dean would get annoyed, but not annoyed enough to either forgive the Angel or tell him to get lost. Dean wouldn't talk to anyone, and Castiel wouldn't push; so they were stuck in the same place. Sam just hoped that they could sort it out before it got them killed.

"_Gentlemen_?" The annoyed voice of their hostess broke through Sam's musings. Dean stomped his way into the new garden, Castiel following, Sam gave the woman an apologetic smile as he followed his brother and the Angel.

Sam hears her huff behind him and he winces, and wonders why they always seem to piss of every single supernatural being they ever meet, whether they were malevolent or not.

Dean sits down on a stone bench facing the fountain, with Sam and Castiel flanking him, while the red-headed woman perches on the edge of the fountain's bowl, her bare feet trailing in the luxuriant green lawn.

"So" Dean starts "you wanted to talk?"

She tilts her head in a manner oddly similar to Castiel.

"Well, we might as well get the introductions over. You" she points to Dean "are Dean Winchester, hunter, Hell escapee and Sword of Michael. You" she points to Sam "Sam Winchester, former law student, hunter, Lucifer's vessel and Cage escapee. And finally we have Castiel, Angel of Thursday, one of the very few Angels to experience free will, thrice resurrected and..." Here Castiel cut the woman off.

"The one who broke open Purgatory and set the Leviathan's free on Earth, I know my crimes." The Angel said tonelessly, his head bowed.

The woman's gaze was almost tender as she looked at the Angel. "I'm not here to pass judgement Castiel."

The silence that greets that sentence stretches out until Sam can't stand it anymore. He coughs awkwardly.

"So, you know who we are, but who are you?" He asks.

"Hearing my true name would probably result in you and your brother's brain matter leaking out of your ears, and in any case you could never pronounce it and it doesn't translate well." She said thoughtfully "But I did have a friend who called me 'Kayla'. He seemed to find it ironic." She smiled fondly.

"How do you know so much about us?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"Well, I get the really important news, the first Seal being broken, you being pulled out of the pit, Lucifer's breakout, the Apocalypse that Wasn't, Sam's semi-return from Hell, Death stepping in – that sort of thing. I also used to have something of an inside man in Heaven, but he's...gone now" Kayla explained. Castiel looked uncomfortable.

"Your friend...I am sorry." He apologised. Kayla shook her head.

"He died before the civil war and your 'God' episode Castiel. You had nothing to do with his death."

Castiel stared at the woman, giving her the patented 'Thousand Blue Mile Stare'.

"What are you?" He finally asked. "You are not human, and not an Angel, or a Demon, but you aren't a monster."

"I'm a special mix." Kayla replied "A few abilities similar to Angels, resistant to Demons and most nasties, but not immortal."

"But what _are_ you, exactly?" Dean pushed.

"You haven't guessed?" Kayla smiled cheekily, and it struck the three men that she was fairly young-looking, possibly younger than Sam.

"You..." Sam started slowly "You're what we came here looking for – you're the weapon!"

Kayla grinned "And we have a winner! You always were the clever Winchester."

"Wait, how the hell are _you_ some kind of weapon?" Dean scoffs, and Kayla glares at him.

She reaches to her waist and pulls a small dagger from the sash of her dress, holding it up for them to see.

"This was forged from the bone of a phoenix, femur I believe, so I called it 'Ember', but that isn't important – this _is_."

She presses the blade to her forefinger, piercing the skin. But what flows out isn't blood, or at least anything they recognise as blood.

It's white, and almost seems to glow, light pulsing as the drops run down her finger.

"Blood is _important_, almost as much as souls" Kayla says, watching the liquid flow. "It's what monsters crave, even through flesh and other fluids, it's what opened Purgatory and it's integral to the Leviathans. My blood is their poison. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true."

The blood drips from her finger and onto the grass, where it sizzles and the green blades wither and wilt.

"Strangely, it also contains chemicals similar to borax, which is why that worked on the lesser Leviathans." She explained. "I'm a little bit more potent, get this into Dicky-boy and he _will_ go bye-bye."

"So how do we do this?" Dean asks, and Sam can see something in his brother's eyes, something he hadn't seen since Castiel had walked into the lake, since they'd buried Bobby.

Sam saw hope.

"Well, you could just cut me open and drain me, but I'm not really fond of that option and what would you do if you ran out?" Kayla asks.

"So what are our options?" Castiel questions; Kayla shrugs in response.

"Take me with you. The Leviathan's are as much my fight as yours and I'm quite helpful and handy."

"'As much my fight as yours'?" Sam questions.

"Purgatory was always going to be broken open, someone was always going to realise the power inside of it, and set the Leviathans free." Kayla explained "It's why I'm here, one of a kind. Like the Horsemen's rings; I'm a failsafe. I was _created_ for what's happening. This is my fight."

Her eyes were hard and her face set. They all knew that look; there would be no convincing her otherwise.

"Well, let's hit the road and gank us some snakes." Dean said.


End file.
